This invention relates to safety equipment for beds and particularly to inflatable means for protecting the occupants of beds from self-inflicted injuries during sleep.
The problem of self-inflicted injuries during sleep by persons prone to fitting or other unconscious phenomena is well known. These injuries are usually caused by falling out of bed, becoming stuck within the surrounding solid structure of the bed or by bodily impact against the solid structure.
Attempts to prevent such injury have included many variants of inflatable or padded supports capable of fitting to, or replacing, the sides of the bed or cot so as to better absorb the impact of the body against the hard structure. An example of this type of support is known from GB2326088A which discloses inflatable tubes, or compartments, which can be fitted to a bed to prevent a person from falling out of bed or from coming into contact with the solid structure of the bed The tubes are releasably fined to the bed structure by means of ties.
However, in solving one problem, this type of solution could introduce an additional difficulty: the bed occupant becoming stuck in the gap described by the interface of the inflatable side support and the mattress.
An alternative approach disclosed in GB868320 goes some way to solving this problem of preventing the occupant from becoming stuck in the aforementioned gap, by attaching the mattress to the xe2x80x9csafety fencexe2x80x9d in such a manner as to eliminate the gap. However, the low sides of this safety fence are designed solely to prevent the occupant from falling out of the bed and not from sustaining injury as a result of contact with nearby solid structure during the course of a fit or other such uncontrolled body movement.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,046 discloses xe2x80x9cbumper padsxe2x80x9d for fitting to a child""s cot with traditional solid surrounds.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a means for preventing a person from falling out of bed, from coming into contact with the solid structure of the bed and from becoming trapped in the gap between the mattress and said means.
According to one aspect of this invention there is provided safety equipment for a bed including sheeting arranged to be securable to a mattress and an inflatable wall structure secured to the casing so as to define an upstanding wall arranged such that, in use, in an inflated condition, the inflatable wall structure serves as a barrier to someone falling out of bed and as a cushion which protects an occupant of the bed from injuring themselves against the structure of the bed.
The casing for the mattress may be arranged to permit a bedding sheet to be positively located thereon.
The locating means may comprise slots formed in the casing to enable elongate ties extending from said sheet to be tied around a mattress inserted in the casing.
An additional limitation of the prior art is the restricted number of suitable applications. In particular it is unsuitable for fitting to profiling beds: specially adapted beds in which the mattress-supporting frame is formed of sections which are hinged so as to allow relative pivotal movement between neighbouring sections. In this way, the bed can be operated so as to raise the occupant to a sitting position.
It is an object of the invention to provide such a bed with safety equipment which serves as a barrier to someone falling out of bed and as a cushion to protect someone in the bed from injuring themselves as a result of contact with the structure of the bed.
According to another aspect of this invention there is provided safety equipment for fitting along the sides of a frame of bed which is of the type in which the frame, which is for supporting a mattress, is formed of sections which are hinged to allow relative pivotal movement between the or each juxtaposed sections about an axis which extends from side to side of the bed, wherein the safety equipment includes lengths of inflatable wall structure, each such a length being for fitting along a respective side of a section of the frame, and angularly extensible and contractible coupling means for joining together adjacent ends of each juxtaposed pair of such lengths of inflatable wall structure either side of a hinge between juxtaposed frame sections to form a continuous wall along the respective side of the bed, the arrangement being such that the junction elements either extend or contract as appropriate with relative pivotal movement between juxtaposed bed frame sections.
The angularly extensible and contractible coupling elements may be inflatable and may be provided with controllable deflation means.
According to a further aspect of this invention there is provided a stand alone bed, especially a cot which includes a casing formed of sheet material which is adapted to receive and enclose a mattress, and inflatable wall structure secured to the casing around its periphery so as to be upstanding from that periphery when inflated whereby, when the mattress is inserted into the casing, the inflatable wall structure serves as sides and ends of the bed.
In the further aspect of the present invention, the mattress may be a cot mattress.
The invention also includes safety equipment for a hinged bed base, said equipment comprising at least one inflatable wall structure comprising at least two sections disposed in end-to-end relationship and interconnected at adjacent ends thereof by a flexible coupling so as to define a continuous wall length, wherein said sections are pivotable about an axis extending transversely of said wall length.
The invention additionally includes safety equipment for a bed, said equipment comprising an inflatable wall structure secured to sheeting, said wall structure defining an endless wall upstanding from said sheeting and comprising at least one section which has opposed ends releasably securable to adjacent portions of said wall structure whereby to define an opening in said continuous wall.
The invention further includes safety equipment for a bed which includes a frame comprising a plurality of sections arranged for relative pivotal movement about an axis extending in a widthways direction of the frame whereby said frame can define on undulant mattress supporting surface, said safety equipment comprising at least one inflatable wall structure securable to such a bed which wall structure comprises means to permit selective collapsing of said wall structure in a transverse direction thereof, whereby said wall structure can conform to said undulant surface.